I am still pretty happy with my Spirit E300, although I did replace the grates with stainless steel (Weber original) and the flavorizer bars with aftermarket SS, which I'm very happy with. Next upgrade is probably going to be these.

It certainly crossed my mind to revert back to charcoal. But I'm SO spoiled now (after being hooked up to NG for 10 years) that I am willing to sacrifice some quality/heat in return for the convenience of a gasser. I know that Grillers are lesser life forms than BBQers, but at least I'm honest.

I was pondering pellet grills, but it appears that - in order to get one that also attains "grilling temperature" - I'd need to buy a MAK, Fast Eddy's or something else that is out of my budget.

I'll probably end up with a Weber Genesis E-330 or S-330, but I always enjoy belaboring these decisions with you guys.

I remember thinking that the reason I didn't want to get a Spirit was because it didn't get hot enough. But those grillgrates might mitigate that concern. What are the key differences between the Spirit and Genesis lines?

My Spirit (a 3 burner) will get up over 600° according to the (undoubtedly inaccurate) thermometer on the cover. However, it will only get up to ~400 with only 2 burners on, which can produce some less than ideal results with a rotisserie. Still good, but not as good as it might be. I may look up if there's some other retrofit I can do to the grill to mitigate this.

At some point, I'll probably get a Weber kettle for when I want to take more time and fool around with charcoal. As it stands, I'm really happy with the steaks, chicken thighs and other basics I do on the gas. It's when I get fancy that I'd rather have something else.

Not sure if this is important to you Tom, but the next grill I buy will be 100% stainless steel. With the rain, snow and humidity we get around here, grills are either disposable, or you suck it up and get one that will last. Every grill I've got so far has lasted about three years, then whatever component is not SS rusts. It's hard to find a grill that doesn't have some component or panel that isn't just painted sheet metal. I stumbled onto one that was all SS but didn't have the cash to buy it at that moment. I think it might have Kitchen Aid, surprisingly enough. At any rate, if that's important to you, make sure you look them over closely. They may say they are all SS, but they rarely are.

Thanks, Mike. Yes, that's an issue for me, too. I got really great service from my Weber, but eventually even the stainless flavorizer bars rusted/burned through. I don't feel like doing a masonry project, or I'd look at a built-in, which could more easily be all stainless.

You know, it's like most things. The one I want is more than I want to pay.